Six Days in Music History brought to you by This Day in Music

Our friends at This Day in Music are bringing us some of the most relevant events that happened this week, along with a playlist for each day. Read along and enjoy these musical flashbacks.

1st February 1967, Pink Floyd spent the day recording parts for the Syd Barrett songs “Arnold Layne” and “Candy And A Current Bun” at Sound Techniques Studios, Chelsea, London. Floyd also turned professional on this day after signing a deal with EMI Records.

Written by Barrett, the song that sealed their pop-psychedelic reputation was inspired by a real-life underwear thief who stole women’s clothes from Cambridge washing lines. There was a girl’s college in the City, so there were constantly great lines of bras and knickers on washing lines. The mystery thief was never caught.

2nd February 2004, TV network CBS apologised for its broadcast of the American Super Bowl after Janet Jackson was left exposed when Justin Timberlake ripped her top. The pair had been performing a raunchy half-time duet when one of Jackson’s breasts was exposed as Timberlake pulled at her top. An estimated 140 million people were watching the show when at the end, pop star Justin Timberlake popped off part of Jackson’s corset. Janet explained that her red bra was supposed to remain after Justin pulled off the leather cover – her breast wasn’t supposed to show.

CBS quickly cut away from the scene (which lasted nine-sixteenths of a second), but was still flooded with calls from angry viewers about the half-time entertainment, produced by MTV. Timberlake insisted it had been an accident saying “I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the half-time performance of the Super Bowl.”

3rd February 1959, 22 year old Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, aged 17, died in a crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa, the pilot of the single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza plane was also killed.

Holly had hired the plane after heating problems developed on his tour bus, (with a faulty heating system in 25 °F (−32 °C) temperatures). All three were traveling to Fargo, North Dakota, for the next show on their Winter Dance Party Tour which Holly had set – covering 24 cities in three weeks, to make money after the break-up of his band, The Crickets, last year.

4th February 1983, singer and drummer, Karen Carpenter died aged 32 of a cardiac arrest at her parent’s house in Downey, California; the coroner’s report gave the cause of death of imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa. Carpenter’s death brought lasting media attention to anorexia nervosa, which was a little-known illness at the time.

The Carpenters 1970 album Close To You, featured two hit singles: “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun.” They peaked at No.1 and No.2, on the US chart. In 1975 – In Playboy’s annual opinion poll; readers voted Karen Carpenter the ‘Best Rock Drummer of the year’.

5th February, 1929, Born on this day, Hal Blaine, American drummer and session musician. He is best known for his work with the ‘Wrecking Crew’ in California. (The ‘Wrecking Crew’ were a group of session musicians who earned wide acclaim in the 1960s who were one of the most successful “groups” of studio musicians in music history).

Blaine played on numerous hits by Elvis Presley, The Byrds, The Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, The Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, The Monkees, Petula Clarke and The 5th Dimension. Blaine played on over 35 US No.1 hits.

6th February 1998, American singer and guitarist Carl Wilson from The Beach Boys died aged 51 after a long battle with lung cancer. Wilson was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in early 1997. A founding member of the Beach Boys he sang lead vocals on “God Only Knows”, “Good Vibrations,” and “I Can Hear Music.”

After his elder brother Brian’s retirement from the stage in 1965, Carl became the de facto leader of the band onstage as well as the band’s in-studio leader, producing the bulk of the albums 20/20, Sunflower, Surf’s Up, and Holland.

Wilson who made headlines in 1967 as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, also sang backing vocals on Elton John’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.”